DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0200Z June 14, 2020
SMOKE: The Rockies… About half a dozen wildfires from Arizona north into western Montana were observed producing moderate to thick density smoke this afternoon. The most intense activity was associated with a fire in north-central Arizona and a fire in western Montana. Both were producing thick smoke. Smoke from the north-central Arizona fire extended north-northeast, then north into far southwestern Saskatchewan. Smoke from the fire in Wyoming and the fire in Montana was moving north to north-northwest. Of note here is the presence of cloud cover, which inhibited smoke analysis, even for some of the large smoke plumes. Southern Plains/Western Gulf… A good dozen to a dozen and a half smoke producing fires were observed from Kansas to Texas to Mississippi. The bulk of the emitted smoke was light, but two or three did produce thicker smoke than the rest. Smoke was moving north to north-northeast across Kansas, Oklahoma, and northwest Texas while smoke was moving west-southwest across eastern Texas Louisiana and Mississippi. Also observed as the sun was setting was an area of light remnant smoke in the area of a front draped from a cyclone just south of New Orleans west across the Rio Grande Valley and then north to near the Front Range. Northern Baja California… Fire activity kicked up this afternoon across northern Baja California. The smoke from these fires, mainly light to moderate in density, was generally moving west across Baja California and into the Yuma, Arizona metro area. Alaska/Yukon… Fire activity across northern Alaska and northern Yukon Territory was producing light to moderate density smoke that was generally moving west or west-northwest. More fire activity in southwestern Alaska was also producing light to moderate density smoke that was extending west-northwest as far as to between St. Lawrence Island and Nome, Alaska. Hosley THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE. TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/currenthms.jpg GIS: ftp://satpsanone.nesdis.noaa.gov/FIRE/HMS/GIS/ KML: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/fire.kml (fire) http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/land/fire/smoke.kml (smoke) ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO: SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov